How to get money from garbage and save yourself from environmental problems, told biologists of UzhNU by an environmental engineer from Germany
On October 6, the Faculty of Biology held a meeting with Birgit Jourdan Münk – an environmental engineer, waste management consultant, representative of the utility company and services of the city of Darmstadt (Germany).
Ms. Birgit shared her experience of recycling and sorting waste in Darmstadt:
Birgit Jourdan Münk
– 30 years ago we realized: if this continues, we will not be able to avoid environmental problems. In addition, we realized that recycling garbage has not only environmental, but also economic advantages. We saw that we could get additional funds for the development of the city. The main thing was to take the first step – to teach people to sort garbage, to prove to them that this is done for the sake of the future, for the sake of the health of our planet, for the sake of our children. So, the municipality built a waste recycling plant, the cost of which is over 20 million euros.
Today, near every house in Germany, you can see 5 containers of different colors: for unsorted waste, organic waste, paper, packaging and plastic, colored and colorless glass. Thanks to waste sorting at the household level, the state manages to save not only money, but also time for their recycling.
A family pays 80 euros for the removal of 240 liters of waste. The garbage is collected twice a week.
During the discussion, the issue of problematic waste was raised – mercury lamps, batteries, refrigerators and other electrical appliances. They are not removed by the usual garbage service – you need to call a special number, and the appropriate vehicle arrives. There are also collection points in the city. As for the disposal of special types of waste, narrow-profile companies deal with them.
If someone is lazy to sort the garbage, strict sanctions are applied. For the first violation – an increase in the tariff for garbage collection. In case of recurrence – the company may refuse to provide its services for a certain period.
The experience of German colleagues shows that with the right approach to solving this issue, local communities not only solve environmental problems, but also have a significant economic effect from the introduction of modern waste processing technologies.
According to the Faculty of Biology